


Home Away

by potentiality_26



Category: Thorne (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: Phil picked a jar of Tom-wasn’t-even-sure-what out of Tom’s hands and shook his head, stowing it in a different cupboard.  Tom laughed quietly and moved on to a block of cheese, which he put away in the fridge without difficulty.He turned, and saw what Phil had grabbed next.  “Oi,” he said, moving to take the tin back, “that’s my hot chocolate.  I paid for it.”The aftermath of a shopping trip.





	Home Away

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [one of these prompts](https://vampiricallyinclined.tumblr.com/post/167696802748/festive-prompt-list), and also [this](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com/post/166240327100/songwrite-grocery-shopping-with-someone-is-an). Note: for anyone coming back to this, yes I did change the title. It was bugging me. 
> 
> Not Brit-picked.

Tom liked Phil’s flat, he always had.  Phil had a lot of stuff- comfortable furniture, mostly secondhand, and knick-knacks accumulated over a lifetime- but the general effect wasn’t one of clutter, just... fullness.  Phil’s flat reminded Tom of Phil’s skin that way.  He didn’t like empty spaces or things not made his own.  The places Tom lived, on the other hand, stayed more or less as they were the day he moved in- which was why Phil never liked them. 

But Tom always felt comfortable wherever Phil lived.  He knew where everything was and had plenty to do with himself, whether he was staying for an evening or for weeks, as now. 

Something had gone wrong with Tom’s ceiling, in that it came down on his head- or would have done if he’d been at home at the time.  His landlord had pointed as much out when Tom got back and saw the damage.  _Good thing you’re almost never home, innit?_ he said.

 _Good thing,_ Tom had agreed, already headed for Phil's place.

There was a time when Phil would probably have shut the door in his face.  Made some joke about having no room at the inn- it being December- the humor of which wouldn’t reach his eyes.  Asked whether Tom had anyone else to stay with, knowing full well that he didn’t with his dad on holiday, and not caring how that stung. But things had gotten better between the two of them- apologies had been made and finally accepted- so Tom got to sleep on his couch- new, nice, extra-long- while he waited for his own to be available again. 

It wasn’t all that easy, of course.  Shopping for two made a great production of necessity, and getting back was even worse.  Phil was very particular about where everything went- the result, perhaps, of keeping a mortuary just so all the time – and all Tom could really do was whatever he said.

And the strange thing was, he enjoyed it. 

Phil picked a jar of Tom-wasn’t-even-sure-what out of Tom’s hands and shook his head, stowing it in a different cupboard.  Tom laughed quietly and moved on to a block of cheese, which he put away in the fridge without difficulty. 

He turned, and saw what Phil had grabbed next.  “Oi,” he said, moving to take the tin back, “that’s my hot chocolate.  I paid for it.”

“That right?” Phil asked, his eyes dancing.

“Yeah,” Tom said.  “And I’ll put it where I like.”

Phil’s kitchen was hardly tiny, but it did turn putting away groceries into a delicate dance for two grown men.  They fell into step with each other smoothly enough, but there was something about how they both came to a stop now, fingers meeting on the cool metal of the tin, that made Tom’s breath catch in his chest. 

People in the market had probably assumed they were a couple.  Tom had thought that a few times, as they bickered over purchases.  Phil’s landlady downstairs, a sweet older woman, thought they were too.  She said it was nice that Phil was finally seeing somebody seriously.  Tom had protested that she’d seen him coming and going for years, that he and Phil were old friends.

She merely said, serenely, that stranger things had happened. 

Tom wasn’t sure whether or not to blame her for what happened next.  Probably not, though.  He was on Phil’s couch later that night- Phil next to him reading as he looked at crime scene photos on his laptop- when Phil’s leg snaked out and he shut the laptop with his foot. 

 _You gotta leave the work at work sometimes, you know?_ Phil said after Tom protested. 

And Tom looked at him, at how the fairy lights he’d put up for the holiday hit his hair, and just nodded, setting the laptop aside.  He couldn’t speak, because if he did all he’d say would be, _Jesus, Phil.  Do you know how long I’ve been in love with you?_ And he’d mean the question honestly, because it seemed so very sudden, hitting him all in a rush.  And talking things through with Phil always helped him think, and he wanted to talk _this_ through with him, but he didn’t see how he could.  What were the chances, after all, that Phil felt the same way?

Tom wondered that again as he stood there, tin in his hands, Phil in front of him with laughing eyes.  If he’d spent only a moment more thinking he would surely have thought better of it, but he acted on impulse.  He bent and kissed Phil. 

It was just a light brush of lips at first, but when Phil didn’t immediately push him away Tom pressed closer.  He set the tin down on the counter, crowding Phil up against it and letting his hands drop to Phil’s waist.  Phil’s mouth tasted good, sweet, and though he wasn’t quite kissing Tom back he wasn’t totally unresponsive either- it was more like he was waiting to see what Tom would do.  And two could play that game, so Tom made himself relax and go still.   

Phil drew back, not much, just enough to speak and to look Tom in the eye.  His lips, a little shiny now, quirked up.  “Trying to get off the couch while you're here, are you?”

A part of Tom identified that he was being teased- in the most promising of ways- and being given the chance to have what he finally knew he wanted without talking about it at once.  But another part of Tom- the part that had missed a lot of danger signals over the years with Phil and wanted to be extra careful now- knew that it might not be a good idea to leave things so undefined.  He hesitated.  “Not if it’s... going to be that short term," he said finally.  He had no idea how long he'd actually be here, but he knew that he wouldn't want to pretend this hadn't happened after he left, wouldn't want to paint it as some kind of vacation from his normal life and his normal impulses- nice while it lasted, but easily abandoned when the time came.  No, he didn't want that at all.  

Phil’s smile grew, and actually touched his eyes.  “Sure you’re not getting ahead of yourself?”

“No,” Tom admitted.  “But-”

“Shh,” Phil murmured.  He got up on his toes and kissed Tom again, and suddenly that was all that really mattered.  Between the two of them, they could figure this out.  They did most things, after all. 

Tom lifted a hand, touching the side of Phil’s face, the curl of his hair.  “I may even share that hot chocolate,” he said against Phil’s lips.   

“You’d better,” Phil said seriously, but then he laughed.

Tom laughed too, and kept kissing him, and the groceries were left forgotten on the counter.   

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com).


End file.
